A Crab In The Pool

Zoe (Élisabeth Gauthier-Pelletier) and Theo (Jean-Sébastien Hamel) are a sister and brother on either side of adolescence, separated by a change whose meaning neither of them has as yet fully grasped, connected by an equally fundamental experience which neither is fully ready to face. In this interim state they spend a day at an outdoor public swimming pool, unaccompanied, theoretically looking out for one another but in practice feeling very much alone. Zoe tries to find a peaceful space but it disturbed by a lecherous, abusive boy, and by the changes happening to her body, which have a deeper meaning for her than for most of her peers. Theo explores ideas around transformation in a different way, with his colouring book based on Greek myths and his conviction that the people around him have secret monstrous identities which only he can perceive.

Shortlisted for the 2025 Oscars, Jean-Sébastien Hamel and Alexandra Myotte’s animated short has a lot going on beneath the surface. The siblings have had to deal with a tragedy in their lives which is never discussed directly but emerges from the direction of their thoughts, and most directly from the crab which Zoe imagines in various disturbing forms. The simple style of the animation contrasts with the complexity of the themes, but is highly effective for conveying expression, and the film serves to remind viewers that sometimes young people who seem sulky or distant have good reason to be. Nevertheless, these kids are both active individuals, not hiding away from the world but doing what they can to take control of their destinies.

Whilst they last, summer afternoons by the pool can seem eternal. Hamel and Myotte draw on that illusion not to conjure up a sense of romance or wistfulness, but to illustrate the ways that young people can feel trapped either by the inexorable processes or adolescence or by having failed to reach it, remaining locked in childhood as the world changes around them. They have both had their stories shaped by something bigger, and so they flounder on the sidelines whilst other people swim and laugh and talk and seem to do everything with purpose. Despite its more specific central theme, which emerges over time, the film succeeds in capturing something universal. At some point in a future we don’t see, these kids will plunge into life. Here we see them just beginning to test the waters.